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Barn Notes

Fan Favorite Fagedaboudit Sal Ready To Run

Posted Saturday, Sep 8, 2012

When the term “hard-knocking, old
horse” is used, New Jersey-breds Fagedaboudit Sal and Who’s the Cowboy
immediately come to mind. The former, who is 9-years-old, and the latter, now
in the 10th year of his life, are still fan favorites at Monmouth Park. Even better, the equine senior
citizens can still best their rivals.

Fagedaboudit Sal, who beat open
company in a $25,000 claiming race two starts back on August 16 and lost by
just a nose against the same class in his last race here on September 3, will
next showcase his talent and toughness on the special day devoted to
state-breds, the New Jersey Thoroughbred Festival, here on Saturday, September
15.

“They only write one race on the
turf for twenty-to-sixteen claimers for boys ad he’ll be in it,” said Chuck Spina,
who claimed the horse for owner George P. O’Malley for $20,000 here last
October. “He should be pretty tough in there. He’s a really cool horse and he
really tries hard every single time.”

The grey gelding’s record speaks
volumes about that. In 77 starts, he has 14 wins, 13 seconds, and 10 thirds for
career earnings of $662,056 and he isn’t done yet. Spina also had Who’s the
Cowboy in his care, but he lost him through the claim box when the 10-year-old
last raced here on August 31.

“I had him for 13 months and he
made $120,000. He went over the $1 million mark on the day we claimed him last year,”
said Spina, who has been training at Monmouth for 42 years.

Losing one of the stable favorites
is never easy, but the blow was softened when Spina learned his long time
friend and fellow trainer Skip Einhorn was the one who took him for Law Legacy Stable.

“Why did we claim a 10-year-old horse?” asked
Einhorn. “The answer is that he’s still been running competitive races and he’s
a still a good horse.”

Einhorn said that he’s going
day-to-day with Who’s the Cowboy, who is a cool customer and doesn’t require
any care outside of the normal routine, and is letting the horse tell him his
needs. His status for Saturday’s New Jersey-bred Festival of Racing is up in
the air with a week to go.

“I’m considering him for the Hesse
(the $75,000 Charles Hesse III Handicap at 1 1/6 mile on the main track) and
we’ll see if he’s ready. But I also have Uncle Otto, who beat him a couple of
lengths (recently). He deserves a shot as does ‘Cowboy’, so we’ll see how it
goes.”